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If I want to become a commercial airline pilot, what classes should I take in high school? Is it better to go to flight school or a 4yr college and major in aeronautics?
What classes would not only stand out in an application, but also help me in my classes in college if I go on to study aeronautics? #aviation
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Jordan J’s Answer
Hi Sarah, I love your question on what classes you should take in HS and your path after you graduate. In short, you don't necessarily have to study a particular thing to become an airline pilot. I know pilots who majored in math and aviation and others that majored in unrelated fields like social sciences and art. Your 4 year degree of choice isn't really what airlines look for, it's definitely a requirement, but there's no right or wrong degree to obtain. Think of the 4 year college degree requirement as a checkbox, they simply just check to see if you have one. What they really look for is the amount of training and flight experience you have. So best advice I can give you is study something you are really interested in so you can actually enjoy your college experience. Furthermore I'd say jump straight into getting your four year degree first to get that out of the way prior to actually start your flight training. So first, get into a low cost college so you won't accrue needless debt, get a job during college to build up the money needed for your flight training, after you graduate look for a flight school nearby and get all your training and further next steps from there. Also, get a degree that will help you in getting a job that pays well in order to further fund your training, good luck.
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Anika’s Answer
A good grasp in math and physics would be really good as you'll be dealing with a lot of numbers and will need to understand how planes fly.